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Cyber criminals from Russia and Iran target MoD staff with fake LinkedIn job ads

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Richard Holmes @richardholmes.bsky.social · 9d

🚨NEW: Cyber criminals from Russia & Iran are posting fake job ads to lure MOD & NATO personnel, contractors, and suppliers — using offers to carry out identity theft, credential harvesting, and malware injection.

My latest: inews.co.uk/news/cyber-c...

Cyber criminals from Russia and Iran are using sophisticated AI-generated job adverts in a brazen attempt to breach devices belonging to UK and allied military officials

Russia 'perfecting' China's sabotage tactics for war against West

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Richard Holmes @richardholmes.bsky.social · Aug 5

🚨NEW: Russia and China are working together to perfect sabotage attacks on Europe and Taiwan, a classified EU intel report has warned.

The report, written in spring, underscores concerns that Beijing and Moscow are working in parallel against the West.
inews.co.uk/news/russia-...

European countries are ill-prepared for threat of co-ordinated sabotage attacks by Russia and China, a classified EU intelligence report has warned

MI5 spies are quitting for better pay and work-life balance

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Richard Holmes @richardholmes.bsky.social · Jul 19

: Budget cuts and promotion freezes are seeing staff at UK intelligence agencies leave for the private sector.

With the promise of better pay, career progression and better work-life balance, the govt faces a drain of talent from security services.

inews.co.uk/news/mi5-spi...

The UK's domestic security agency is losing staff in search of better career progression, sources have said

Richard Holmes @richardholmes.bsky.social · Jul 17

One former MoD official said there was “a lot of argument internally” over who “should and shouldn’t be coming back” to the UK.

A military intel source said vetting was little more than “sending the list out to blokes in-country [Afghanistan] and asking what they think”.

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Richard Holmes @richardholmes.bsky.social · Jul 17

The most recent data fiasco sparked a scramble to resettle Afghan nationals.

Govt departments and UK intelligence agencies had to work together to decide who to bring to the UK. But the classified nature of the information they were dealing with made it hard to vet individuals.

Crucial MoD email safety check was scrapped before Afghan data leak

Richard Holmes @richardholmes.bsky.social · Jul 17

Also in the report: Insiders said Britain’s rushed effort to resettle Afghan nationals in the wake of the leak descended into chaos amid poor planning, internal disputes and questionable vetting over who should be brought into the country.

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Richard Holmes @richardholmes.bsky.social · Jul 17

The source, who helped manage the fallout from the leak while at the MoD, warned the incident represented the “eroding” importance placed on data protection and operational security at the department.

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Richard Holmes @richardholmes.bsky.social · Jul 17

A former senior military source said the decision, along with a reduced understanding of IT, paved the way for a defence official to mistakenly leak a list containing the personal information of nearly 19,000 Afghans, putting lives at risk.

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Richard Holmes @richardholmes.bsky.social · Jul 17

MoD systems used to block emails sent outside its secure network unless the sender typed “Release/Authorised” into the subject line.

The measure was intended to protect against accidental leaks, but it was abandoned in 2018 after staff complained it was “inconvenient”.

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Richard Holmes @richardholmes.bsky.social · Jul 17

EXC: The MoD scrapped a crucial email safety check years before the Afghan data leak.

Safeguards mitigating against this type of leak were stripped away, security awareness declined, and infighting between gov depts ensued.

Fresh details for @theipaper: inews.co.uk/news/crucial...

Defence and security insiders claim essential data protections for MoD emails were removed before the data leak

UK set up secret Afghan immigration scheme after data leak and gagged media

Reposted by Richard Holmes

Lucy Fisher @lucyfisher.ft.com · Jul 15

🚨 🚨 🚨 UK govt set up a secret multibillion-pound scheme to relocate thousands of Afghans to Britain after a data leak put them at risk of murder and torture by the Taliban...

Then gagged the media with a super-injunction for almost two years

www.ft.com/content/f6b4...

‘Super-injunction’ lifted two years after 25,000 were placed at risk of Taliban reprisals

www.ft.com

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Richard Holmes @richardholmes.bsky.social · Jul 14

They added that “many” incidents witnessed on Britain's land, sea, air, and screen are currently being linked to Kremlin-backed operations.

Full report here: inews.co.uk/news/nato-un...

Nato unit helping combat Putin's 'hybrid warfare' threat on British soil

From arson to cyber attacks, the UK faces an unprecedented threat from Russia

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Richard Holmes @richardholmes.bsky.social · Jul 14

A NATO official said these hybrid tactics are meant to create “a creeping sense of instability” and to “undermine the public’s trust in their institutions and governments.”

Richard Holmes @richardholmes.bsky.social · Jul 14

Intelligence officials have warned the Kremlin may be laying the groundwork for future sabotage operations against critical national infrastructure.

Think undersea cables, energy grids, transport.

Richard Holmes @richardholmes.bsky.social · Jul 14

NATO’s innovation, hybrid and cyber division is working with the UK to help stop cyber attacks, and investigate the Kremlin’s role in sabotage and disinformation campaigns.

Richard Holmes @richardholmes.bsky.social · Jul 14

🚨 NEW: A specialist NATO unit is working with British intelligence to investigate and prevent “hybrid warfare” attacks by Russia on UK soil.

This is a key alignment in response to increased aggression from Putin. Here’s why it matters 👇

Richard Holmes @richardholmes.bsky.social · Apr 16

The ban was enforced at RAF Wyton - home to the UK’s premier military intelligence hub, the Pathfinder Building

It is also understood certain EVs have been prohibited from the Salisbury Plain military training area. The site has been used to train Ukrainian soldiers.

Electric cars with Chinese parts banned from UK military sites over spying fears

Richard Holmes @richardholmes.bsky.social · Apr 16

Senior officials fear that EVs driven by personnel might be being tracked, while sensors in the cars could be used to collect intelligence and send it back to Beijing.

The directive has not been imposed across the entire UK military estate and only applies to selected sites.

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Richard Holmes @richardholmes.bsky.social · Apr 16

NEW: The Ministry of Defence has banned electric vehicles with Chinese components from sensitive sites and military training bases.

Staff at secretive military sites have been told they must park EVs made using Chinese technology miles away from key buildings.

inews.co.uk/news/electri...

Military staff working at Britain's premier intelligence hub have been told to park their EVs at least two miles away over fears their cars could be spying on them

UK spies fears intelligence leaks after Trump team blunder

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Richard Holmes @richardholmes.bsky.social · Mar 25

British security officials have “deep-rooted fears” about sharing intelligence with the US.

Higher restrictions are now likely to be placed on intelligence material sent to US counterparts which will be distributed on a “need to know” basis.
inews.co.uk/news/uk-spie...

Higher restrictions now likely to be placed on intelligence sent to US, sources say, as growing distrust clouds 'special relationship'

UK Special Forces on standby to join Ukraine peacekeeping force

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Reposted by Richard Holmes

The i Paper @theipaper.com · Mar 18

Exclusive | The elite units could be deployed rapidly, gather intelligence and counter Russian 'greyzone' activity, say experts

@richardholmes.bsky.social reports

The elite units could be deployed rapidly, gather intelligence and counter Russian 'greyzone' activity, say experts

UK Special Forces on standby to join Ukraine peace-keeping force

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Richard Holmes @richardholmes.bsky.social · Mar 18

EXCLUSIVE: British Special Forces have been put on standby to head to Ukraine as part of the UK’s peacekeeping mission.

Directive from Govt to military signifies increasing UK confidence in a Russia/Ukraine ceasefire.

inews.co.uk/news/special...

UK Special Forces can help with intelligence gathering and possibly countering any Russian 'greyzone' activity in Ukraine

https://inews.co.uk/news/uk-spying-risk-closer-us-russia-relations-3584421

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Richard Holmes @richardholmes.bsky.social · Mar 17

Closer ties between Trump and Putin are making UK intelligence officials uneasy.

As the UK becomes Putin’s number one enemy, it does so with lingering doubts about its closest and most trusted ally.

My latest: t.co/Yi5DBsxbA3

t.co

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Reposted by Richard Holmes

Sanya Burgess @sanyaburgess.bsky.social · Mar 14

EXCLUSIVE: Investigators tracking Ukranian children abducted and taken to Russia have had to stop work as the Conflict Observatory's funding is cut by Elon Musk's DOGE.

The funding freeze impacts intelligence sharing w Ukraine and the efforts to bring these kids home
inews.co.uk/news/world/m...

Musk cuts the team finding Ukrainian children stolen by Russia

Donald Trump’s federal cost-cutting - led by DOGE's Elon Musk – has now hit the unit helping rescue Ukrainian children taken by Russia